'Grey's Anatomy' creator Shonda Rhimes leaves ABC for Netflix

[August 15, 2017]  (Reuters) - "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes is taking her Shondaland production house away from Walt Disney Co's ABC network to Netflix Inc to produce new content, the video streaming company said on Sunday.

Rhimes's move to Netflix comes a week after Disney, the world's largest entertainment company, announced plans to launch its own streaming service and pull Disney and Pixar films from Netflix, starting with releases in 2019.

Rhimes is signing Shondaland to Netflix in a multi-year contract. Betsy Beers, Rhimes's producing partner at Shondaland, is also moving to Netflix.

Netflix said "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal" and "How to Get Away with Murder" — ABC shows created under the Shondaland banner — will continue to air in the U.S. on ABC.

Netflix has been spending billions of dollars on content to win new subscribers in a quest to become the world's top movie and TV streaming service.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Sai Sachin Ravikumar)

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